whitehousefandomcom-20200214-history
About first ladies gracecoolidge
ABOUT THE WHITE HOUSE * FIRST LADIES OUR FIRST LADIES: 18th Century about_first_ladies_marthawashington Martha Washington about_first_ladies_abigailadams Abigail Adams 19th Century about_first_ladies_marthajefferson Martha Jefferson about_first_ladies_dolleymadison Dolley Madison about_first_ladies_elizabethmonroe Elizabeth Monroe about_first_ladies_louisaadams Louisa Adams about_first_ladies_racheljackson Rachel Jackson about_first_ladies_hannahvanburen Hannah Van Buren about_first_ladies_annaharrison Anna Harrison about_first_ladies_letitiatyler Letitia Tyler about_first_ladies_juliatyler Julia Tyler about_first_ladies_sarahpolk Sarah Polk about_first_ladies_margarettaylor Margaret Taylor about_first_ladies_abigailfillmore Abigail Fillmore about_first_ladies_janepierce Jane Pierce about_first_ladies_harrietlane Harriet Lane about_first_ladies_marylincoln Mary Lincoln about_first_ladies_elizajohnson Eliza Johnson about_first_ladies_juliagrant Julia Grant about_first_ladies_lucyhayes Lucy Hayes about_first_ladies_lucretiagarfield Lucretia Garfield about_first_ladies_ellenarthur Ellen Arthur about_first_ladies_francescleveland Frances Cleveland about_first_ladies_carolineharrison Caroline Harrison about_first_ladies_francescleveland Frances Cleveland about_first_ladies_idamckinley Ida McKinley 20th Century about_first_ladies_edithroosevelt Edith Roosevelt about_first_ladies_helentaft Helen Taft about_first_ladies_ellenwilson Ellen Wilson about_first_ladies_edithwilson Edith Wilson about_first_ladies_florenceharding Florence Harding about_first_ladies_gracecoolidge Grace Coolidge about_first_ladies_louhoover Lou Hoover about_first_ladies_eleanorroosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt about_first_ladies_besstruman Elizabeth Truman about_first_ladies_mamieeisenhower Mamie Eisenhower about_first_ladies_jacquelinekennedy Jacqueline Kennedy about_first_ladies_ladybirdjohnson Claudia Johnson about_first_ladies_patnixon Patricia Nixon about_first_ladies_bettyford Elizabeth Ford about_first_ladies_rosalynncarter Rosalynn Carter about_first_ladies_nancyreagan Nancy Reagan about_first_ladies_barbarabush Barbara Bush about_first_ladies_hillaryclinton Hillary Clinton 21st Century about_first_ladies_laurabush Laura Bush administration_michelle_obama Michelle Obama GRACE ANNA GOODHUE COOLIDGE b.1879 -- d.1957 For her "fine personal influence exerted as First Lady of the Land," Grace Coolidge received a gold medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences. In 1931 she was voted one of America's twelve greatest living women. She had grown up in the Green Mountain city of Burlington, Vermont, only child of Andrew and Lemira B. Goodhue, born in 1879. While still a girl she heard of a school for deaf children in Northampton, Massachusetts, and eventually decided to share its challenging work. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1902 and went to teach at the Clarke School for the Deaf that autumn. In Northampton she met Calvin Coolidge; they belonged to the same boating, picnicking, whist-club set, composed largely of members of the local Congregational Church. In October 1905 they were married at her parents' home. They lived modestly; they moved into half of a duplex two weeks before their first son was born, and she budgeted expenses well within the income of a struggling small-town lawyer. To Grace Coolidge may be credited a full share in her husband's rise in politics. She worked hard, kept up appearances, took her part in town activities, attended her church, and offset his shyness with a gay friendliness. She bore a second son in 1908, and it was she who played backyard baseball with the boys. As Coolidge was rising to the rank of governor, the family kept the duplex; he rented a dollar-and-a-half room in Boston and came home on weekends. In 1921, as wife of the Vice President, Grace Coolidge went from her housewife's routine into Washington society and quickly became the most popular woman in the capital. Her zest for life and her innate simplicity charmed even the most critical. Stylish clothes--a frugal husband's one indulgence--set off her good looks. After Harding's death, she planned the new administration's social life as her husband wanted it: unpretentious but dignified. Her time and her friendliness now belonged to the nation, and she was generous with both. As she wrote later, she was "I, and yet, not I--this was the wife of the President of the United States and she took precedence over me...." Under the sorrow of her younger son's sudden death at 16, she never let grief interfere with her duties as First Lady. Tact and gaiety made her one of the most popular hostesses of the White House, and she left Washington in 1929 with the country's respect and love. For greater privacy in Northampton, the Coolidges bought "The Beeches," a large house with spacious grounds. Calvin Coolidge died there in 1933. He had summed up their marriage in his Autobiography: "For almost a quarter of a century she was borne with my infirmities, and I have rejoiced in her graces." After his death she sold The Beeches, bought a smaller house, and in time undertook new ventures she had longed to try: her first airplane ride, her first trip to Europe. She kept her aversion to publicity and her sense of fun until her death in 1957. Her chief activity as she grew older was serving as a trustee of the Clarke School; her great pleasure was the family of her surviving son, John. ---- Click about_presidents_calvincoolidge here to read the biography of President Calvin Coolidge. MD5: e1b9db12d77011b6433d6cc09d34d2aa Original URL: http://whitehouse.gov/about/first_ladies/gracecoolidge/